Wow it's Dynasty Warriors vs. Mode. XXXXXYYYYYY so much skill uguu~. It even has wun mirrion troops, I know this because 8 of them are always stealing my kill while the rest gangbang me from behind mid-combo. I can't really complain, though, I lost at character select. God help you if you aren't a human, as soon as you slap a robot arm on you fall about 80 tiers. Speaking of tires, nobody does anything until they've thrown one at you, leaving you stunned for somewhere between 30 seconds and --- oh wait, that's all it takes to kill you. Thanks, infinite combos! And if you're reading this and aren't already playing the game, there's no point starting now; I'm sure glad the pre-order bonus was the best character in the game! Oh, and Bayonetta isn't the only thing coming from her game, Platinum made sure to continue their fine tradition of making every woman fight with stripper moves or slap their ass - The Japanese tradition at its finest. Thankfully I only had to play it for about 30 seconds before I lagged out of a match. Dodged a bullet there!

Which is nice because dodging doesn't work IN game, you just get grabbed! USEFUL!!!

EDIT:

[1/15/13 8:58:32 AM] perfidioussinn: my only criticism is that this could've gone in Specific Video Game Discussion[1/15/13 8:58:35 AM] perfidioussinn: because it's not a top 5[1/15/13 8:58:58 AM] darealaa: Literally I thought about it but didn't think it was long enough[1/15/13 8:59:04 AM] darealaa: I guess by the time I was done it was though....[1/15/13 8:59:07 AM] darealaa: rofl I guess!

P.S. I resolved to improve writing about video games I guess so please pm me criticisms and stuff if you think I made an obvious (or maybe not as obvious) mistake.

Deadly Premonition is one of the best games I've played in a long time. It also happens to be one of the worst games I've ever played - it's got pretty clunky controls, the enemies have way too much health, the overworld is annoying to navigate, driving is a ridiculous chore, the sound mixing is hilariously bad...

...and those sections where you run away from the Raincoat Killer last way too long and...

OK, yeah. I'll stop. Deadly Premonition gets the "best worst game" treatment a lot, so I'm going to try to avoid that here as much as possible. (Though complimenting this game requires a degree of irony, for sure) Instead, in a cross between Top 5 and SVGD, I'm going to list 3 reasons why Deadly Premonition is one of the most important games of this generation.

1. It effectively vindicates itself as a game by going beyond its "source material"

"Pastiche deforms the style of its referent: it selects, accentuates, exaggerates, concentrates. It selects. It does not reproduce every detail of the referent, but selects a number of traits and makes them the basis of the pastiche. It is formally very close to what it imitates, yet it is clearly not it."

-Richard Dyer, Pastiche

One could say that Deadly Premonition "borrows" a lot from the 1990s ABC series Twin Peaks. Here's a few examples:

A. Both stories star an eccentric FBI agent. (Twin Peaks' Dale Cooper and Deadly Premonition's Francis York Morgan)B. Both agents travel to the Pacific Northwest to investigate a mysterious murder linked to a case they are investigating.C. Both agents have supernatural abilities and peerless deductive capabilities.D. Both agents have a particular, peculiar fondness for coffee.

It's worth mentioning, too, that the game had to undergo significant visual and narrative alterations to make it less like the television show. However, despite the similarities, Deadly Premonition hits its stride by emphasizing the "selection" process identified by Dyer. Writer/director SWERY extracts ideosyncratic elements from Twin Peaks but manages to expand them through the act of playing. York's complexities, and his growth as a character, are linked to the act of play: our control doesn't determine how he reacts to the story, but guiding him through Greenvale (and even performing mundane tasks like eating and changing clothes) builds an intimacy between user and avatar that is only possible through interactive play.

It's like I'm actually watching a real person shave!

By going through the story, we become active voyeurs, witnessing York's development from closed-off weirdo to involved, impassioned hero. While it certainly inspired Deadly Premonition, Twin Peaks doesn't determine the game's progression: the show is a starting point for something different (and equally strange). For fans of the show (and fans of weird games), Deadly Premonition is something both recognizable and altogether new.

2. It goes to some dark and troubling places, especially for games

Deadly Premonition isn't just quirky: it's downright troubling at times. The game consistently revels in blurred lines and ambiguous and mixed messages. This confusion of identities is at the forefront of the narrative: York spends a large portion of the game chatting in pseudo-soliloquy with an unseen figure named Zach, a dynamic that becomes increasingly muddled as the story progresses. The York/Zach relationship is so complicated (not to mention downright odd), but Deadly Premonition actually manages to go deeper. Most of the game's major figures are dealing with the same fundamental issues: they struggle to define themselves as distinct from their families, or they struggle to overcome what's expected of them by the community at large. This confusion allows the game to address some seriously difficult content: many of the key figures are dealing with complex, often Oedipal angst which gives way to some pretty distinct sexual confusion. Love is at the centre of Deadly Premonition's narrative, but it's not romantic love at all: most of the characters are hopelessly infatuated with deified icons instead of real people. Sexual attraction in this game is about filling a void, about hopelessly seeking to satisfy parental/familial abandonment by transforming the target of one's affection into an object for (often literal) worship.

York: More than 2 problems???

Many characters (York included) bear physical markings of their hardship; their bodies (while poorly animated) convey vital messages. At the forefront of Deadly Premonition is this idea that the self is something to be masked or concealed - that one's public persona is a tenuous and fragile façade. Rarely do games deal with issues of repression this complex: Deadly Premonition suggests that underneath the false outer shell is a repressed, alternative self. The game is particularly fascinating when it focuses on this disconnect between the external and internal: it is fitting, then, that many characters can only come to grips with their emotional dysfunctions by adopting an alternative outward appearance. However, the abandonment of the outer shell comes with some pretty grim consequences, and SWERY certainly does not avoid dwelling on these repercussions.

3. It's genuinely scary

The combat could be better, but Deadly Premonition manages to be pretty unsettling. The murders you are investigating are extremely brutal, and it contains some of the most disturbing images I've seen in a game. In an era where survival horror games often emphasize neither survival nor horror, it's refreshing to find one that manages to do both.

But don't worry: the ridiculous soundtrack is always keen to lighten the mood.

All of us here grew up in the time when a new game console meant your old games wouldn't work on that new system. We played the NES, then the SNES came out and none of the NES games would play on it. Same thing with the N64 and SNES games not working on that, or the Saturn and Genesis games not working on that.

But then, Sony released the PS2 and did two remarkable things with it that changed how we view consoles. One, they made it able to play DVD's. Yes, the PS1 could play CD's but nobody really used that over a dedicated sound stereo. But DVD's, which were pretty new, WAS something we could use, and when the PS2 came out, it was actually the cheapest DVD player out there, which is a huge reason for why it did so well out of the gate.

The other huge reason? The PS2 could play PS1 games. Which meant that upon buying a PS2, not only could you play any of the games available at launch (what games those would be I have no idea) but all the PS1 games you loved you could keep and still play.

This was the first console to ever have backwards compatibility, and ever since it's been a big thing for a lot of people. You can trade or sell your old system but still keep your games.

Then comes the current gen. PS3 can play PS2 games but not PS1. Xbox 360 will play a large number of Xbox games but not all of them. Only the Wii was fully compatible with the previous generation.

Now we're into next gen. Wii U will play Wii games but not Gamecube. And PS4 and Xbox One aren't backwards compatible at all. I mean, AT ALL. Not even XBLA games or Indie games. I asked the Xbox Support Twitter and that's what they said.

Why? Why are Sony and Microsoft reluctant to do backwards compatibility?

Here's the thing. Online play is huge now. It's a big selling point for a number of games. Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, any fighting games or sports games. Just last year, a new Call of Duty and Halo game were released. Now, people who have these games can't play them on the new system. Or games that came out this year even, like Gears of War and Bioshock Infinite. Why are the companies telling gamers that games they just bought this year they can't play on their new machines?

This is especially mindblowing because not all of these series have games coming out at launch or right after launch for the new systems. Battlefield 4, Call of Duty, and the EA Sports games all will release new games in their franchises for PS4 and Xbox One, but what about Gears and Halo? Heck, what about Injustice, which is considered by some to be the best fighting game since SSFIV? Why bother getting these games if in 5 or 6 months I can't play them on my new system? Microsoft made sure when the 360 launched that Halo 2 could be played on the 360 because Halo 3 was still a year away. Presumably Halo 5 will come out 2014. Why preclude gamers from playing 4 on the One? (wow, that was an interesting thing to type)

I can understand Sony deciding to not allow the PS3 to play PS1 games. Heck, I can even understand eventually stopping production of PS3's that could play PS2 games. But why not allow playing of PS3 or 360 games when they will still be on the shelves for at least another two years with new games coming out for them? Are they afraid of people buying the game twice for each version to double up on Achievements or Trophies? (and if this is the case, why disallow that when it means the publisher and console maker receives twice as much money?). I just don't understand it.

I realize backwards compatibility doesn't mean much to some gamers. Some people buy a new game, beat it in a week, hold onto it for another month or two to get all the achievements, and then trade it in or sell it. But I like to keep my games to replay them at a later date. That's what I've started doing. I went through Homefront again, I'm almost done with my replay of L.A. Noire, and I've started another replay of Arkham City. After that, I might do Alan Wake again, or I might actually go through and beat Mass Effect 3 for the third time. So for me, this is a big issue.

I still plan on getting an Xbox One because I do want the next gen games, and my wife and I can get rid of the PS3 (which has really only been used to play Blu-Rays) and just stick with the Xbox. But the fact that I have to hold onto my 360 to play these games again really frustrates me. In this day and age, when a Blu-Ray player (which will be the disc format Sony and Microsoft use for their next gen systems) can play Blu-Rays, DVDs, and CD's, there's no reason why backwards compatibility can't be allowed when all it would be is a simple firmware update.

This game sat in my Steam wishlist for a while. I was gonna buy it eventually because I vaguely recall Devourer of Time's high praise for it, but I kept passing it up in Steam sales. In fact, I was gonna pass it up again until he just bought the game for me (thanks again!)

I've recently finished the game after 56 hours, and now I really wish I played it sooner. I won't dilute my praise by saying it's "one of the best RPGs I've played" because I don't play many of them. It is simply one of the best games I've played. Period. Stop. End of transmission.

Okay, not the end though. I should tell you why it's good.

It has character, and characters that have character!

Early on in this game, I opened up a treasure chest. Then I noticed that there was still a prompt that allowed me to search it again. Double treasure? Nope.

The treasure chest sasses at you. This isn't an isolated incident either. There are hundreds of quotes for treasure chests in this game, so many that I only saw one repeat in my entire 56 hour quest. It's such a weird detail to add, but incredibly charming.

The cast is enormous. It's rare to see a character only once, because they keep coming back. Sometimes they affect the plot majorly, sometimes they just stop to say hi and move on. Not only that, but most of the non-important characters like shop owners and random civilians have their own arcs throughout the game! There was a couple that is never given a character portrait but kept popping up in every new town I visited. I won't spoil it, but they had their own story which had a nice, satisfying conclusion near the end. I was surprised at how much trouble the writers went through to make me care about this random couple, to the point where I said "oh, there's those two again!" when entering the final town.

These characters aren't stereotypes. Thanks to the amazing writing, your party members and other major characters grow and change as the story progresses. I was not a fan of a certain party member who seemed to show up just to be a jerk. But when he goes through some rough events in the game and finds someone he really cares about, he makes a significant change for the better.

Even though this game is set in a weird future/past and inevitably turns into a "near Armageddon" scenario (it is a JRPG after all!), the characters are so realistic and well-written. Their story and their feelings matter just as much as the main plot, even as that gets more serious. I didn't like some parts of the final act, but I never felt that any of the characters acted stupid or out of character just for drama. That happens a lot in anime.

The combat is never boring.

There's a lot of reasons why I loved fighting in this game.

First, the battle theme is excellent. I've heard it hundreds of times now and I could listen to it again right now. Actually, I think I will.

Second, you can skip battles if you don't want to fight them. Enemies are visible on the map and can be easily avoided. If you need to fight them but are underpowered or not confident, you can get surprise attacks by attacking them from behind.

Third, the combat is still entertaining even if you can just stomp the enemies in one turn. Many of them are vulnerable to status effects, which are incredibly strong and fun to use. I've had nearly unwinnable battles turn around because I hit a few enemies with Confusion, causing them to attack each other instead of my party. I turned a few boss fights around with debuffs, which can be so severe that they will hit you for 0 damage while your attacks hurt them three times as much.

The timeline on the left is a really neat mechanic that rewards someone with a Critical, health/magic boost, or bonus damage if the icon lines up with their icon. It can lead to losing a battle because an enemy got a critical on you...or turning it in your favor by messing up the turn order and taking the bonus for yourself.

These are the #1 way to steal turn bonuses, as you can easily KO an enemy with one. Of course, when they're out they don't get the bonus, so it moves down the timeline to you! These are balanced by requiring a resource that lets you cast powerful spells too.

I never actually had to grind in this game, even though I did fight a lot. And when I did grind for specific materials, the game's bestiary told me exactly what enemy to fight so I didn't have to waste time searching for them.

There's so much more to touch on here. The Orbments (basically, a miniature, simplified Sphere Grid) allows unprecedented customization of your party, and you can switch up their stats & magic attacks whenever you want. The party members rotate in and out so you are never overwhelmed by choice, and it makes it even more awesome when someone you haven't seen in 10-15 hours reappears.

Trails in the Sky has an amazing cast of characters and great character development, writing that effortlessly covers comedy and drama without ever feeling corny or melodramatic, a battle system so satisfying that I went out of my way to do every single sidequest, a perfect difficulty curve, an enormous cast of characters that have their own arcs even if they're not important to the story, fantastic music, a bunch of hidden stuff that I missed out on according to the Achievement list, and impeccable pacing.

I avoided it for a while because of the price tag but it was worth every cent (that I didn't pay for it >_>). I'm buying the sequel the first day it's available.